The Still, Cold World
by Ulysses Quanta
Summary: The loss of one of the longest serving members of Tekkadan had a different effect on each of the surviving members. Spoilers for Season 1.


Orga ran his fingers through his hair and let out a reluctant sigh, before powering on the monitor in front of him. Within moments, a ringing icon appeared on the screen, indicating that a call was coming through from the Isaribi.

"Boss, what took you so long?" Eugene asked as Orga finally answered his call.

"Sorry, Eugene. Things have... They've been a bit crazy on Earth for a while," Orga explained.

"I heard. You were on a ship and now you are on a train?" Orga nodded. "Next time, maybe those of us that are up here can come along too, and go on ships and trains," Eugene grumbled.

"Maybe. Do you have the copy of the list of names I left on the Isaribi?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I'll... I'll need you to add another name to that list." Eugene's eyebrows raised up in response, but he grabbed the slate from next to him.

"Who did we lose?"

Orga was silent. To say the name out loud meant that it had really happened. That they had lost him.

"Boss?"

Orga ran a hand over his face and let out another sigh. "B-Biscuit. G-Griffon."

"What?!" Eugene's face contorted into an expression of shock, of anger. "What happened?"

"One... One of the mobile suits caught up to us. Biscuit... He threw me free of the mobile worker we were in but the mobile suit..." Orga looked down at the desk below him as Eugene started spluttering.

"Wha-but-how-no-" Eugene finally stopped stuttering for a moment, before answering with a saddened "Damn."

"I know. We'll take revenge for him on anyone who gets in our way, I promise, Eugene."

Eugene looked at him with concern. "You sure that's what he would want, boss?"

"I don't know," Orga admitted truthfully. "But's it's all I-we, can do now."

"I see. I'll let the rest of them up here know. Eugene out." The call cut out, leaving Orga to stare at his reflection in the monitor.

 _Biscuit_. he thought. _I'm sorry._

...

"So what is your plan for once we reach Edmonton?" Makanai asked the woman stood before him.

Kudelia looked down at the slate in her hand and frowned. "If we are lucky, we should be able to move you into the city by a fleet of mobile workers to where the assembly is taking place," she answered.

"And if we are not as lucky?"

"Then we will have to fight through any enemies in our way. The mobile suits will not be usable due to the ban of ahab reactors near cities, so unless whoever our enemies are also uses mobile suits, we will be using mobile workers only."

"You're assuming our enemies will fight fairly, Miss Bernstein. While they most likely will due to having to hold up their reputation, you should be prepared for the worst," Makanai explained.

"I see."

"Make a third plan involving the mobile suits just in case. I don't think the pilots will appreciate being left out of the battle." Kudelia nodded, and turned to leave. "And Miss Bernstein?" he called.

"Yes?"

"Do not fear potential losses. They know what they are getting into." Kudelia flinched, but nodded and walked out of the room. Once outside, she walked over to where a window was and looked outside at the snowy tundra whipping by.

 _We've lost too many already,_ she thought to herself. _I don't want anyone to lose anymore._ Memories flashed through her mind of Shino breaking down in the mess hall after the battle with the Brewers, of Akihiro's roars of grief as he ruined the ship's gym attempting to cope with the loss of his brother, of Mikazuki and Miss Atra, who had been badly beaten protecting her, comforting her after she lost Fumitan...

She looked down at the slate in her hands, and quietly opened another document, tentatively titling it "Plan C", before pulling her copy of a picture Tekkadan had taken with the Barbatos before they had left Mars out of her pocket and gazing at it.

"I promise, we will not lose any more of us," she quietly vowed.

...

"I'm bored," Ride loudly proclaimed as he worked on tuning up a mobile worker. Next to him, Takaki shook his head while Yamagi above them poked his head out of the cockpit of Shino's Graze.

"You know this has to be done, Ride," Yamagi reminded the boy, who turned around to look up at the young mechanic.

"Yeah, I know. But why does it have to be snowy out there? It's cold and watery and gave me a headache when I tried to eat it," he grumbled.

"You're not supposed to eat the snow," Takaki chuckled as he started pulling the treads off. "Ride, help me out here."

"Got it." Ride walked over to pick up the treads and help Takaki carry them over to where the snow treads were, before setting them down and picking up the snow treads.

"I'm still not sure why we need different treads for different weather. We never had this problem on Mars," Takaki said.

"It's like space, if we want to fight in space, we need to be set up for space combat, or else we won't fight as well, I think," Yamagi explained.

"You think we could bring some snow back to Mars?" Ride asked as he pulled the snow treads over the mobile worker's track.

"Why?"

"The guys on Mars might wanna see it."

"I think Biscuit mentioned that he wanted to bring some back for Cookie and Cracker to have," Yamagi said, before flinching at what he said. Takaki and Ride's faces also dropped at the reminder of their fallen friend.

"Yeah, he did..."

"Yeah."

The three of them was silent for a moment, before Ride started pulling the treads together and snapping them together. "We'll get the snow for them, and we'll get Gjallahorn back for what they did. I promise you two we will, even if I have to crush their mobile suits myself," he proclaimed. Yamagi and Takaki swapped worried glances before Yamagi clambered back into the cockpit of the Graze to finish adjustments.

 _Shino_ , he thought. _We aren't gonna lose anyone else, are we?_

He wished he was here to answer that. But for now, all Yamagi could do was prepare the mobile suit for when he next needed to go out in it.

So he was going to do that to the best of his abilities.

...

Mikazuki walked through another train carriage while on patrol, the chattering of the wheels on the track the only sound echoing around the empty carriage as he observed the area for potential hostiles.

Ever since they'd gotten onto the train, he'd been on patrol consistently. Always walking, always watching in case something tried to sneak up on them, sneak up on him. The others had offered to cover his patrol route, but he'd refused. He needed to be doing something, something other than sitting in a room, shivering despite the many layers he had been ordered to put on.

He wasn't sure why he had to wear this much clothing, but he wasn't one to question orders. So he'd donned the layers and headed out.

He walked out of the carriage he was in, and stepped over to the next carriage, shutting the door behind him to keep out "the elements", as Merribit had called them, shivering from briefly being outside of the train.

"Mikazuki?"

The boy turned around to see the source of the voice.

 _Atra was ordered to wear that many clothes too_? he thought as he recognised the girl despite her being covered in as many layers as he was. Nodding at her, he quietly walked past her, eyes looking past her as he scanned the area behind her for potential threats.

A moment after he walked past her, he felt someone grabbing him from behind. A brief, instinctive desire to go for his gun hidden in his pocket went through him, before his mind reminded him of who it was.

"Atra?" he asked aloud. A quiet noise behind him confirmed it to be her, and he relaxed, allowing her to hug him from behind, the only sounds now being the train running along the tracks.

After Biscuit's funeral, Atra had done something similar then, only she had been crying. Apparently, it had helped her to cope with the loss, so he had allowed it.

He remained still, wordlessly saying to her "take your time", watching his breath form into what the others had called "mist" in front of him as she held him close, her head pressing gently against his back.

"Mikazuki... Thank you," she said as she let go of him.

"Huh?" he asked in confusion as she stepped into his view.

"N-nothing. I'm just glad you're with us," she told him, smiling, her cheeks turning slightly red.

"You too," he answered, a small smile forming on his face as he briefly looked at her, before she started walking away.

Mikazuki stood for a while, listening to the wheels chug along, before walking forward again smile fading, restarting his patrol of the train.

 _We'll keep goi_ _ng, Biscuit,_ he thought. _Until we arrive at the place we belong._

...

 _Author's Note: So this was inspired by a piece of art I found on the internet as well as by the song The Still, Cold World from the Frostpunk soundtrack, so I'd recommend you check those out._

 _I hope you enjoyed this story. Be sure to let me know what you thought!_

 _Link for the art:_ _h t t p s : / www . pixiv . net /member_illust .php ? mode=mangaillust_id=55960916_


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